No. 108/2018

Coming to change

Ten years of Alexander von Humboldt Professorships

Five million euros to get a researcher from abroad to relocate to a German university! When the Humboldt Foundation launched the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship ten years ago, the sponsorship amount caused furore. Those in the know commented that research was starting to get like football with its transfer market.

But if this makes you think of the Ronaldos and Neymars with their hundreds of millions, that is not what this is all about. Only a fraction of the money associated with the Humboldt Professorship flows into a competitive salary for a brilliant, internationally-coveted academic. The lion’s share is used for building new structures, labs, teams and for materials.

In the end, it is not so much the salary that governs the decision to relocate but the ideal research environment, the high degree of freedom and, last but not least, the trust implicit in being granted a Humboldt Professorship.

Apart from excellent research, what is expected of the recipients of a Humboldt Professorship is, first and foremost, that they create something new, inject new ideas and bring a fresh breeze. They come to change things.